Save Your Sorry Ass
by AnneLea
Summary: He tensed when she patted his shoulder, not expecting the contact. Her finger tips lit a fire where they brushed his skin. It wasn't literal, but he swore it felt real. The tension in his body brought on pain all over, mostly in his ribs and stump of a left arm, causing him to cringe. Sakura snapped her hand back instantly. "Jeez. If I knew you hated me this much, I wouldn't have


`"Why are you still here?"

Sakura jerked her head off the wall, sitting up in her chair so abruptly that she almost launched herself into the floor.

Sasuke laughed from his bed, a low rumble that soon turned into a cough and a grunt of pain. His ribs were still bruised black. Sakura scrambled to her feet and touched her hands to his chest, easing the coughing.

"Better?"

"Yeah." His voice came out hoarse. "I take it they don't want me healed completely yet."

"No." Sakura sat on his bedside, checking him over. "They don't trust you."

"But you do?"

"Not really."

He looked away from her, unable to meet her eyes.

"But," she stood, "you have the truth now. Why did you attack Naruto? You should have been working together, not trying to kill each other!"

"He is too soft!" Sasuke snapped at her. "He can't do what needs to be done. He would get in the way of making things right when the way to make things right is to kill. He thinks he can save everyone, and that's just not true."

He fell into another coughing fit. This time, she didn't help him. The attack stopped soon enough on its own. "I can't keep trying to save you from yourself. Sasuke, if you try to harm anyone else I care about ever again… I won't help you again. I can't bring myself to kill you, but I can choose to let you die next time."

He understood. She was done with him. There was no point explaining to her exactly why he tried to kill her and Naruto so many times. She was done before he could try to start. He was ready to start. It didn't matter.

"I need to check on Naruto's progress with the new arm," she said, looking away. He didn't see that she wasn't watching him, though. He was still focused on the sheets of the hospital bed he lay in. "He still has trouble with the pinkie finger. Are you going to try?"

"No." He didn't feel that he deserved it.

"Your choice," she sighed.

He tensed when she patted his shoulder, not expecting the contact. Her finger tips lit a fire where they brushed his skin. It wasn't literal, but he swore it felt real. The tension in his body brought on pain all over, mostly in his ribs and stump of a left arm, causing him to cringe.

Sakura snapped her hand back instantly. "Jeez. If I knew you hated me this much, I wouldn't have bothered checking in on you at all."

Sasuke watched as she walked away, wondering if he should try to correct her. The fire of her skin on his wasn't unwelcome, just unexpected. He wanted to reach out and grab her hand, hold on tight, never let go. But she was done with him. She would punch him and probably rip off his other arm. She was out of the room before he could decide.

Sakura bumped face first into a man in a gown pulling along an IV pole. She hurried to try and catch him by the shoulders when she realized the man was bandaged on his chest where she'd hit him. He was crouching over, a sharp breath hissing through his teeth.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Sakura rushed to apologise.

"Maa, don't worry about it," the familiar baritone of his voice came out a little pained. "We both had bad timing. Ah, Sakura-chan? I thought you were on the next floor up?"

"Yeah, Kaka-sensei," Sakura forced a smile at Kakashi, backing away a couple steps to give them both their personal space again. "I just came down here to check in on Naruto and Sasuke."

"Naruto is sleeping again," Kakashi advised. "They had to put him out. I was just on my way to check on Sasuke."

"He's awake and his usual nearly-mute self."

Kakashi heard the restrained venom in her voice and did a double take. She never, ever, used that tone when it came to her childhood crush. Was this really Haruno Sakura before him?

"Bother him at your own risk," she advised. "Anyway, you were my next stop after Naruto. How are you healing?"

"They say I have scar tissue attaching to my organs," Kakashi answered dully. "It's going to take a series of surgeries to free them up from one another. Which, of course, will only cause more scarring."

"I know, but, Sensei, you don't want them attaching to each other permanently. It would do more damage."

"Which is why I have elected to stay and let them do what they want. I want to get back in the field as best I can."

"Good to hear." Sakura smiled at him genuinely. For him to knowingly submit himself to hospitalization and surgeries, he must have felt the injuries Obito had inflicted quite badly. That, or, perhaps, he was actually trying to live for a change. Whatever the reason, he was here, alive, willing to do better. "I guess I should get back to my own patients then."

Kakashi reached out and stopped her when she started to walk away. "Sakura-chan… What happened in there? With Sasuke, that is."

"I think I just woke up," Sakura answered honestly. "I woke up and saw things as they are."

Kakashi's eyes showed the frown his mask hid. "I'm sorry. I tried to get him to understand. I really did."

"You can stop trying. I was a fool. I won't keep making that mistake any more. Promise."

Kakashi cursed under his breath as he let her walk away. His eyes looked at the door behind which Sasuke lay. What did Sasuke say to her? What did he not say? Damn it all, Kakashi's blood was nearly boiling. That ungrateful little fuck still managed to mess up a good thing when it was spelled out for him and shoved in his face. Sakura was so very loyal, strong in so many ways, and easy on the eyes to boot. Sasuke didn't deserve her when they were younger, though he could have. Now, not at all. Finally, though, at least one of the three hellacious students he'd had was awake. Sakura was going to find herself now, independent of her desire for a traitorous boy.

Kakashi just wished, for once, that Sasuke would have been honest with her. He knew that no matter what had happened behind that door earlier, Sasuke being honest wasn't a part of it.

Once, a week ago, Kakashi and Sasuke had spent some time together, free of doctors, nurses, orderlies, and visitors. They had both been sick of being cooped up in a bed and told to rest by each person that came in, every few minutes apart, to poke and prod at them. Both of them found a moment to slip away and find a hiding spot to just be alone for a while. They both ended up choosing the same janitor's closet.

And that's when Sasuke came clean with him.

***One Week Ago***

Locks. Heh. This was a Hidden Village. Nothing was ever really locked unless it had chakra reinforcements. Even then, the lock could still be broken if one worked methodically enough. Seeing as civilians were the main work force in the hospital, very few doors had locks with chakra behind them. This janitor's closet was no special place.

Kakashi let himself into the dimly lit room, quickly shutting the door behind himself. Finally, he could breathe. Not only that, but he could probably even jerk off the tension Nurse Mika had been building up for a while. Did she really have to lean over him like that to get the blood pressure cuff off the wall? Did her breasts really have to hang out in front of his eyes so close his eye lashes were touching them? Did she even know what a bra was?

"This is my hiding spot. Find another."

Kakashi turned around to see another patient sitting on a low shelf peeling a banana. "Sasuke?"

"Kakashi," came the dull response.

"If I go back out there now, I risk alerting the staff about the ease of breaking into this room. Five of them were settling in at the nurse's station when I came in."

"If you're going to stay, help me eat this fruit," Sasuke offered up a plum.

"Where did you get this stuff?" Kakashi happily took the dark colored fruit, sliding down his mask to take a bite. As he expected, Sasuke didn't react.

"Hyuuga Hanabi. It was meant for Maito Gai, but he was already released and she didn't want to take it to him at home."

"So she brought it to you?"

"She was going to give it to Naruto, but he was in surgery. I was her third try."

"Ah." Kakashi took a seat across from him. "Tell me something. I want the truth."

"Did you follow me here?" Sasuke cut in, upset.

"No. I was going to ask you this yesterday, but you were nowhere to be found."

"I was here, probably."

"As I was saying, I want an honest answer."

Sasuke remained quiet, waiting.

"What are your feelings and intentions towards Sakura now?"

Kakashi didn't worry that Sasuke was quiet at first. He needed time to process the question and form a real answer. The fact that he was taking so long to answer boded well in Kakashi's mind.

"I want to be worthy of her." Sasuke finally answered. "She is smart, strong, and loyal to a fault. Possibly as much as Naruto."

"But what do you intend to do?" Kakashi asked, trying to get back to the point. "I didn't ask what you thought about her, but what your intentions are."

"I intend to try."

"Try what?"

Sasuke gave him a narrow look. "You know what I mean."

"No, actually, I don't," Kakashi leaned back, forcing himself not to cross his arms over his chest. That would hurt like hell right now and just put up another wall between them. "I want to know what you are going to try. Try to be friends? Try to kill her again? There are many possibilities."

Sasuke almost yelled at him, but realized that would blow their cover. He calmed himself down and really thought for a moment. "Do you know why I wanted to kill them?"

Kakashi waited. There was no point in answering, Sasuke would continue on his own.

"I had to make a choice. If I killed them, I would get the power I needed to save the world. If I chose them, I wouldn't have them for very long, because the world was going to end. In the long run, my happiness with them was worth less than the lives of everyone and everything else. That is how I thought of it back then. Now, I know differently. I want to try, Kakashi. I want to have that option I thought was impossible. I want to show Naruto what it is like to have a good brother. I want to be what Sakura wants of me."

"Do you intend to marry her? Have children?"

"Not at this time. I just want to see if I can handle being in the same room with her for more than an hour."

Kakashi raised a brow at that.

"You know how it is… guilt."

Kakashi relaxed. He knew full well what guilt could do to a social life, especially when the person you feel guilty about is staring right at you. "Small steps. I started off by making a new friend before I went back to the old ones."

Sasuke was surprised by the little insight.

"It started with the man you know as Yamato. He chose to spare my life. I got him out of Root. We became friends. Then, because of him, I was able to accept others. Slowly."

"What are you saying?"

"Tell her the truth. Tell her you have a lot of guilt when it comes to her, and that you want to start over, as friends."

"I doubt she will accept that."

"She will have to if she wants to keep you in her life."

***Now***

Kakashi sighed and entered Sasuke's room. He wouldn't go on the offensive. Most likely, Sasuke had followed his advice with some improvisation. Being friend zoned is probably what set Sakura off. He needed more information before he dared to make another demand of the young man.

"You just missed Sakura."

"Actually, she ran face first into me," Kakashi corrected. "We talked briefly."

"About me?"

"She was extremely vague about you," Kakashi answered, taking the seat Sakura had almost flipped earlier. "Were you honest with her."

"I never told her. The conversation didn't allow for it."

Kakashi noted the subdued, forced indifference in both his tone and his expression. There was definitely more to it than Sasuke was saying. Wasn't there always? Kakashi knew he had no room to push. He was just as guilty.

The silence stretched on for several more seconds.

"How is your recovery?" Sasuke asked at last.

"I'm going to need recovery time from recovery," Kakashi grumbled. "I assume you will, too?"

"I'm going to prison after they release me from here, remember?" Sasuke eyed him. "They're going to make me better so I can make a pretty corpse."

"That's not going to happen," Kakashi commanded. "I will break you out myself if it looks like things will go that way."

Sasuke didn't believe what he was hearing. "Why?"

"You are the one person who can make both Sakura and Naruto happy," Kakashi reminded. "My wish is for all my precious people to be happy and safe. Since you're done trying to kill them, my best option is to save your sorry ass. Again."


End file.
